Nationally renowned speaker inspires students

For the 2017-2018 school year, the Associated Student Body (ASB) mission statement for Lind-Ritzville High School (LRHS) is to embrace the concept of “why not.”

To help drive home the mission statement and inspire students, LRHS experienced a presentation from motivational speaker Jake Ballentine last Tuesday. After the high school presentation, he traveled to Lind to inspire to LRMS.

Ballentine has the credibility to speak to the “why not” mentality. In high school, he was deemed “learning disabled” and barely graduated. After finding inspirational mentors and internalizing a commitment to succeed, today Ballentine is an author, podcast host, professional musician, and nationally renowned motivational speaker.

Ballentine is not a traditional motivational speaker; rather than relying solely on personal anecdotes, he incorporates music into his presentation.

Of his career path, Ballentine explained, “I became a musician because I wanted to communicate a positive message. I love playing music but I found that I love the message even more.”

“After several years as a full time musician I realized that I was not having the impact I wanted to have, so I started combining music with an empowering message,” he continued. “I have been doing it ever since.”

His integration of music and motivation has led to profound success: he has performed before upwards of 250,000 people and earned national awards in the process.

Ballentine’s most important message to students is “you matter, other people matter, and you can do anything,” but his presentation addressed multiple topics. Of the many themes touched upon, many in the audience found one that resonated within them.

Consequently, LRHS students can attest to Ballentine’s effect as a motivational musician.

ASB president Camden Smith reflected, “The big message I took away from our speaker is that you shouldn’t be afraid of doing something because you don’t want to fail.”

Megan Buriak, ASB treasurer, explained, “I took away that I should be confident in who I am and what I stand for.”

As a reciprocation of Ballentine’s message, “focus on the good,” Buriak said, “I should live life on the positive side.”

Similarly, ASB vice-president Rachel Schell recalled, “I realized who I should have around me to help me be positive and to be the best me.”

Ballentine’s presentation had an uplifting effect on the LRHS student body: “I think he impacted the school by just bringing in a positive vibe to everyone who was there,” Smith said. “He exceeded my expectations because of how he got almost everyone involved and allowed them all to have a good time.”

“I didn’t really know what we were going get into with the whole guitar and harmonica,” Buriak joked about skepticism prior to the presentation. “But, it turned out way better than I could’ve hoped.”

“I would totally want him to come back,” she adds.

Prior to his presentation, the ASB officers communicated to Ballentine details about the mission statement and other details about LRHS.

Ballentine said, “I always try to talk with someone at the school before I come and incorporate their mission into my presentation but I love it when it is the student leaders that I get to talk to.”

To Schell, this allowed his presentation to become even more personal and motivational. After emphasizing the mission statement of “why not,” Schell said, “I honestly was moved to tears.”

Schell’s reaction is essentially why Ballentine is a motivational speaker.

“My favorite part of my job,” he explained, “is when students come up to me after an assembly and tell me that they are changing their life in a positive direction because of something I said.”

Overall, Ballentine’s musical motivation helped inspire LRHS and lead them in a positive direction as they continue the semester.

“I hope he truly impacted the rest of the school like he did to me,” concluded Schell.